Microsoft Launches High-School Girls Program in India

Microsoft has just announced the launch of its DigiGirlz program aimed at high-school girls in India, trying to offer women the opportunity to build a career in the IT world.

The program was officially launched in 2000 in the United States, but the company now wants to expand it in new countries across the globe, including more cities and schools in India.

“Lack of women in sciences and engineering is a global problem. Awareness is the key,” said Jacky Wright, vice-president of Microsoft IT, according to a report by Times of India.

Only 15 percent of the students at the Indian Institutes of Technology are women, the source reports, so Microsoft is trying to encourage younger students to join its program starting with the age of 12, usually in eighth or ninth grade.